1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a fastening assembly for securely holding apertured parts together and, more particularly, is directed to a two-piece fastening assembly which includes a relatively resilient female anchoring element and a relatively rigid male locking element.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The present invention is an improvement upon my earlier fastener described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,910,155, issued Oct. 7, 1975.
In my earlier patent, I point out the disadvantages of conventional hard metal fasteners, and offer an alternate construction which utilizes a relatively resilient female member within which is positioned a relatively rigid male member, both members being preferably formed of natural or synthetic materials other than metal.
While being an improvement over the prior art fasteners theretofore known, I have found my prior design to suffer from several deficiencies, and it is towards remedying these deficiencies that the present invention is advanced.
One of the disadvantages of my prior design relates, for example, to the difficulty in reusing the fastener. It would naturally be highly desirable if such fastening elements could be readily reused, both from an economic standpoint and from the standpoint of facilitating removal and dismantling of an apparatus to save labor.
My prior art structure also consists of two separate pieces which had to be individually stored and did not form any cooperating function until assembly of the apertured members. It would clearly be desirable to be able to provide a substantially unitary construction for the purposes both of facilitating storage and inventory, as well as installation and use. As will be pointed out in greater detail hereinbelow, even though the present invention is constructed of two distinct cooperating members, such members may be stored and utilized as a single unit.
Another deficiency of my prior design is that it requires access to both sides of the panel members within which the fastener is desired to be installed, a design which is obviously limited to those physical situations where access to both sides of the panels is readily available. It would clearly be desirable if a fastener could be provided that could be installed and removed from only one side of the fastenable members.
It is towards solving the above-noted deficiencies of my prior art that the present invention is advanced.
Other United States patents in this general art area of which I am aware include: U.S. Pat. Nos. Re. 24,438; 2,061,629; 2,800,526; 3,358,550; 3,489,312; and 3,534,936.